Memories Wrapped in Snow
by dragoscilvio
Summary: Toshiro Histugaya sustains a massive head injury during a battle, but when he wakes up, his memory is gone but has instead gone all the way back to the time before he died as a human. Who is Suri Tanosei, and why is Ichigo acting so strangely when he hears that name?
1. Amnesia

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that I choose to use in this fanfiction…**_

_**To my readers… I have watched the entire series, and I even read the manga, I make the plotline the way it is, because I wish it to be. If the characters seem OOC, then I apologize, but please do not insult my writing capability or some nonsense like that. I promise to give you an interesting story the best I can. As an added disclaimer, I made the story without the constraints of time, just enjoy the twists and turns of my tale, and try not to get too technical with me. Ok? THANKS!**_

"Captain!"

Toshiro barely had time to register his lieutenant's warning before swinging his sword up to block the attack swung at his head. They were currently in the realm of the living near Karakura Town, and were completely surrounded by Menos Grande. But for every one they cut down, it was only replaced by two more. Toshiro knew that they were eventually going to run out of energy, and that they needed to finish this battle now.

Swinging his blade high over his head, boy captain let loose a volley of ten ice dragons, each tearing into a Menos Grande. Chest heaving as he labored to catch his breath from the large scale attack so late in the game, Toshiro turned to Ichigo Kurosaki and the young Quincy, Uryu Ishida.

"Ichigo, Ishida!" He cried "Find the source where the Menos are coming through, and use any means necessary to seal the hole!"

"Right!" Both replied before flash stepping into thin air.

Nodding his head in confidence of their abilities, the ice master turned once again towards his enemy, and prepared for another energy draining attack. With Ichigo and his friends defeating the Menos all the way up to the leak, there was a good chance of victory if he defeated all the ones here, and then rushed to help the substitute shinigami.

Lifting his sword into the air, Toshiro focused much of his last vestiges of energy, and then prepared himself for what he hoped would be his final attack.

"Bankai…"

Icy wings spread themselves from his shoulders and back, while a crystalline claw spread down his arm and a wicked tail whipped the air behind him. Even though Toshiro disliked using this technique in this form, he knew that Bankai would help him call forth an attack strong enough to finish off all the Menos in one fell swoop; he just had to wait for the right moment. Slowly all the Menos Grande sensed the awesome power radiating from him, and all began to cluster together as they surrounded the ice master. Closing his eyes, the boy captain focused his energy above each of the Menos Grande, feeling the air around them shift as he affected it. His turquoise eyes glowing an icy blue, the boy whispered softly;

"Hyoten Hyakkaso."

His zanpakutou shone with a bright light, before a brilliant beam shot up into the sky. The clouds gathered as they roiled from the immense energy being released, until finally, small holes opened up above each of the remaining Menos. Fellow shinigami quickly retreated, getting out of the way of the devastating attack they knew was coming. Snow poured through each of the holes, and each snowflake that came through soon encased the Menos Grande in flowers of ice. Multiple columns rose up towards the sky as their enemies were taken down, but as Toshiro let out a sigh of relief, he didn't hear the cry of warning before he was slammed into the ground by one Menos he had somehow missed.

As he lay on the ground, the boy captain watched through blurred vision as his lieutenant took down his attacker, but eventually all melted away into black.

…..

"Is he going to be ok?"

Ichigo paced back and forth across the room at Kisuke Urahara's shop. When the substitute soul reaper had arrived back at the original battleground to report that he and Ishida had successfully sealed up the hole, the last thing he had expected was to see Toshiro having suffered a massive head injury and lying in a pool of his own blood. Ichigo had then gathered the young captain up into his arms, and ran as fast as he could to the former twelfth squad captain, hoping against hope that they could save his friend.

But that was well over four hours ago.

Rangiku Matsumoto gave a heavy sigh laced with grief. "I just don't know Ichigo…" she murmured, her face downcast and sullen "He lost a lot of blood, and I can't lie and say that his head injury will be easy to heal."

Ichigo let out a groan of frustration before flopping down on the floor beside his friend Renji. Looking around, the substitute shinigami gazed on the faces of his friend. Rukia, Renji, Chad, Ishida, and Orihime, all of their faces were drawn and etched with concern. But who wouldn't be? Seeing one of the strongest captains in the Gotei 13 court guard squads lying on the ground with the back of his head bashed in and an impossible amount of blood surrounding his body would shake up anyone.

Finally Kisuke walked out of the room, his features a mask of fatigue, but this uncharacteristic seriousness was diminished when he attempted his usual cheesy grin at the glum team mates.

"He's going to pull through!"

Sighs of relief rang out around the room as everyone jumped up, all crying out questions, trying to find out more about the state of their fallen comrade. Waving his hands in a calming gesture, Urahara yelled over the cacophony of voices.

"Hey, calm down!" Kisuke yelled "I said he's going to be fine, but there were some complications!"

The reply was unanimous "WHAT?"

Urahara sighed as he finally attained silence. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, the former twelfth captain let out a sigh and then slowly began to explain the situation.

"Because of the head injury, it appears the poor captain will be having issues with his memory."

"Issues with his memory," Ichigo gasped "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Taking out his bamboo fan, the older man began to flap it anxiously "The healing process went pretty well, but Toshiro actually came around faster than I expected. When he woke up, we discovered that his memory has regressed."

"Regressed, you mean he lost his memory?" Ishida asked his eyes wide with shock.

"Oh no…" Rangiku moaned, burying her face into her hands. After taking several shuddering breaths, the ginger headed woman finally looked back up at Kisuke with tear filled eyes "How much has he forgotten?"

"You see, this is where it gets pretty interesting" Kisuke smiled eagerly, his scientist nature taking over. "Technically he has forgotten everything, but-"

"How is completely losing his memory interesting, you jerk?" Renji ground out his eyes flashing with malice.

"Because, if you would let me finish you would find out that Toshiro's memory has regressed to the time when he was still alive."

That statement made everyone in the room jerk back in shock. To when he was still alive? From what they knew about the small captain he had grown up in one of the many small districts around soul society, but no one, not even his own grandmother, knew where he had come from before then. Technically most ghosts remembered their past, but there were some who forgot everything on the journey to soul society. Toshiro had been one of them. His past was nothing more than a blur, and he had never spent much time dwelling on it due to his responsibilities as a captain. But now his memory of that time was back, what changes would it bring?

"So let me get this straight" Ichigo said in a low voice "Toshiro's memory has returned to when he was alive, and that was how long ago exactly?"

"I have no idea" Kisuke shrugged "But I think it may be during the time right before he died. He didn't react when I called him by his first name, and has no idea that he is from the soul society. As far as he knows, he is still in Fukuoka with his family."

"Fukuoka, the old fishing village known for making hand spun Kasuri cloth?" Ishida asked in wonder.

"Indeed" Urahara nodded "At any rate, I think it is safe for you guys to come in and see him, but I warn you, he is not acting like his normal self. So try to keep your shock at a manageable level."

Exchanging looks of nervous curiosity, the group slowly filed in the room to find their comrade sitting up in bed laughing at joking with Jinta. Despite the bandage on his head, the change in the young captain was evident from the first moment they looked on him. His brow was smooth of the wrinkles usually furrowed down the middle, and his mouth was upturned in a carefree smile as he laughed at something Jinta had said. Turning to face his guests, the boy captain gasped, and then greeted them with an adorable grin.

"Hi!" he cried enthusiastically "Are you the people that saved me?"

"Uh…." Ichigo felt his eyebrow twitch as he tried to comprehend the uncharacteristic behavior of his longtime friend "Yeah, we are."

"I'm sorry if I don't remember you" the young boy shrugged, his wide turquoise eyes gleaming with childlike innocence "but I am very happy to meet you anyway. My name is Suri Tanosei, I am six years old, and I live in Fukuoka with my parents in our cloth shop."

An alarm bell rang in the back of Ichigo's head at the name, but try as hard as he might, he couldn't remember why. Giving his head a firm shake the red head listened as each member introduced themselves with nervous uncomfortable voices. Toshiro politely bowed to each of them with each introduction until it was finally the substitute soul reaper's turn.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm seventeen years old, and I live in Karakura town in my family's clinic."

"Your name is Ichigo?" Toshiro asked his head cocked to one side in confusion.

"Y-yeah…" the teen replied, giving a heavy swallow as a feeling of unease burst in his stomach "Do not like it or something?"

"No," Toshiro answered slowly, his face suddenly breaking into a wide grin "It's just I have a cousin named Ichigo who lives in Karakura town. We are gonna meet for the first time when he comes to visit my house in a few weeks!"

The substitute shinigami gasped as he felt like someone had just busted him in the gut with a sledgehammer. His focus only on the bedridden child in front of him, Ichigo felt the room tilt as suddenly all the pieces began to fit together. Stumbling away from the injured captain of squad ten, Ichigo labored to bring air into his lungs as he began to hyperventilate.

"No… no it can't be…"

"Ichigo?" Rukia reached up to place a hand on the teen's trembling shoulders "Is something wrong?"

"I…" Ichigo looked down at his friend, and then suddenly ran from the room at full speed.

Kisuke noticed the panicked look on his pupil's face before the ginger headed boy had made his dramatic exit. It was extremely rare when he, the almighty Kisuke Urahara, did not know something. He could practically smell that something interesting was afoot, and he couldn't wait to find out the details.

"What's his problem?" Renji muttered his face a mask of concern as he gazed in the direction Ichigo had ran.

"Did I say something bad?"

All eyes turned towards the small voice and were shocked to see the boy captain near to tears.

"No, no of course not!" Renji tried to console the boy "Ichigo is just weird and tends to overreact to the smallest things! You don't have to worry about him!"

"But…" a tear rolled down from one turquoise eye, and the small captain sniffled as he tried to catch the rest as they began to stream down his face "He looked really mad, and I'm scared that I hurt his feelings."

The entire room fell into an uncomfortable silence as each waited for the other to do something. Finally Matsumoto stepped forward, and used one hand to gently wipe the tears away. Her face glowing with what could only be described as maternal love the lieutenant brushed his bangs aside and placed a tender kiss on his forehead.

"Don't worry sweetie" she said in a soothing tone "you didn't do anything wrong."

Green/blue eyes looked up at her full of childish emotion before he broke out in a toothy grin. Springing forward the boy captain flung his arms around the woman's neck, hugging her tightly.

"I like you!" he declared "You're like my mom."

Rangiku stiffened in shock at the unexpected contact, but quickly recovered as she returned the hug. After letting go, Toshiro sat back in his spot on the bed, but this time his face was troubled.

"Hey squirt, what's wrong?" Renji didn't know where the nickname came from, but with Hitsugaya acting like such a little kid, it just seemed natural.

"Well…" Toshiro bit his bottom lip in indecision for a few moments before asking in a small voice "When can I go home?"

"Uhhh…." Was the main consensus as everyone looked around at each other, unsure of how to answer the small child trapped inside a teenager's body.

"Don't worry!" Kisuke spoke in a jovial tone "I have already taken care of getting a hold of your parents. They will be here within the next few days to pick you up."

"Why can't they be here now?"

Tears once again threatened to spill over and Kisuke began to wave his arms in panic as he grasped for a valid reason concerning the delay of Suri's parents.

"Something about a car!" he yelled, waving his fan around in the air dancing back and forth "Yes, they said the car was broken down, and that they would be here as soon as they can but everything is going wrong right now, but they promise that they are coming as soon as possible!"

"Our car?" Toshiro cocked his head in confusion "Do you mean the truck my dad uses for deliveries?"

"YE-ES!" Urahara practically sang.

"..oh…"

The sound was so forlorn it broke the heart of all who were listening, which basically caused the following chaos to ensue. Before the boy captain could even blink, boxes of chocolate were placed on his knees followed by bowls of ice cream and jelly beans. Kisuke let Jinta back into the room, and the kid even shared his second NintendoDS with the amnesiac, which cheered Toshiro up even more. Soon both boys were munching on candy and shrieking in joy as they began to play against each other in the virtual worlds created especially for children.

Rukia and the others slowly left the room with its occupants, and sat down in the dining area of Kisuke's apartment, all wearing a mask of fatigue and worry.

"How long do you think he will stay like that?" Orihime asked quietly.

"No telling." Ishida replied sullenly "It could be permanent for all we know."

"I sincerely hope not…" Matsumoto sighed, her eyes staring at the sliding door separating them from the injured captain "I would hate to have to watch Toshiro be stripped of his rank, and then go through the agony of dealing with a new Captain. It just wouldn't feel right without Captain Hitsugaya in charge of Squad Ten."

All nodded in agreement, each wincing inwardly at the repercussions of what would inevitably happen, should Toshiro's condition prove to be permanent. Suddenly Renji's head popped up, his eyes flaming with anger and frustration.

"Where's Ichigo?" he snarled "It isn't like him to just abandon his friends when we are in the middle of a crisis. What's wrong with him, why did he just take off?"

"Think about what Toshiro said" Chad's deep baritone cut through the air for the first time since the crisis began "He mentioned having a cousin named Ichigo from Karakura town, and Kisuke says his memories are from when he was alive. Maybe Ichigo and Toshiro have a deeper connection than any of us know?"

Mouths hung open in shock at the large Hispanic teen's words. Indeed, they had heard those words come from Toshiro's mouth, and then had seen Ichigo react like he had seen a ghost(pardon the pun). Maybe something deeper was going on here. Well, there was only one way to find out and that was only by waiting for Ichigo to come back, and then beat the answers out of him. Luckily though, they did not have long to wait.

Ichigo burst through the doors of Kisuke's shop, a box in his hands, and his face slick with sweat as he gasped for air.

"I…" he panted, his eyes dark and serious "I found it, I found _him._"

**What is the past connection between Toshiro and Ichigo? Find out next chapter! Please remember to READ and REVIEW!**


	2. Tragic tale

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that I choose to use in this fanfiction…**

**Hey everyone! Time for chapter two! I hope you enjoy, and please remember to RxR!**

"I found it…" Ichigo gasped "I found_ him_."

"What do you mean you found him?" Uryu asked, one incredulous eyebrow arching towards the ceiling.

"Yeah," Renji growled "And why did you just run out like that? You couldn't possibly have something more important than being here for your friend when he's lost his memory!"

"If you let me explain I'll tell you!" Ichigo yelled.

Letting out a heavy sigh, the ginger headed male set the cardboard box onto the small table, and sat on the floor. His eyes were soft, as if he were no longer sitting in this room, but was actually somewhere far away. With slow movements, Ichigo gently drew the lid off of the box, and tenderly picked up the pictures that lay inside. Wordlessly, he carefully placed each picture on the table so all could see. To say that everyone was shocked at the contents of the pictures would have been a massive understatement, for there in color were picture of two young boys. One had ginger hair and looked about five, the other had dark brown hair and appeared about six, and both were playing in the snow with large grins. But the shocking thing was the older boy looked exactly like Toshiro Hitsugaya with dark hair, and childish features.

Rangiku picked up one of the photos, one where the two young boys were grinning up at the camera, laughing at some unseen joke with mugs of hot chocolate in their hands.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"That…" Ichigo began in a grieved voice "Is my cousin, Suri Tanosei from Fukuoka prefecture in Japan."

No one spoke, no one moved; all were waiting breathlessly for this new piece of information being supplied from the most unexpected of sources.

"These pictures were taken during winter of the year I turned five." The substitute soul reaper began softly, his eyes looking on the pictures as if each were their own little movie, playing their captured memory before his eyes "My mother had a sister in that part of the country, and she wanted to visit them for Christmas. I remembered being excited because my aunt and uncle had a little boy my age, and I didn't have many friends at that time."

Kisuke softly came into the room, and sat down, swiftly grabbing up a few of the pictures, eyeing them with interest. Ichigo nodded in his direction, and then continued his story.

"When I first met Suri, I knew we had a special bond. I didn't know at the time, but he could see spirits as well, even though neither of us knew the difference between the living and the dead. We would spend hours chasing ghosts, the adults thinking we were playing tag, when we thought we were playing with neighbor kids. Sometimes we would point out or new friends to our parents, but they always laughed just thought we were being funny, and would play along talking to our "imaginary" friends. We were just so young; we didn't understand that we were seeing things no one else could see."

Suddenly Ichigo's voice cracked. Bowing his head, he cleared his throat with sorrowful eyes. Rukia leaned over, and placed a comforting hand on the teen's knee, she smiled gently as she wordlessly let him know that he was amongst friends who cared.

"What happened next?" Ishida prodded gently, his features wreathed with concern as he watched his friend struggle to tell, what was possibly, a painful tale.

"It was New Years eve," Ichigo continued his voice hoarse with emotion "I remember because Suri and I were trying to convince our moms to let us have the special chocolates and sweets they had made before midnight, but they refused so we looked for entertainment somewhere else. We walked outside when suddenly we saw something strange. It was a little girl, and she was standing barefoot in the snow in a tattered kimono. She wasn't like our other friends, we had never met her before, but all of a sudden Suri started screaming about a giant monster being behind her. I had no clue what he was talking about, I didn't know about hollows then, I couldn't even see them yet. All I saw was the bait…"

"No!" Rukia gasped "Please don't tell me that it was…"

"the grand fisher…" Ichigo murmured "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Now that I think about it, it all makes sense."

Bracing his elbows onto the table, Ichigo rested his head on his hands, his fingers twining through ginger hair. "Suri took off, shouting about the girl being in trouble from a big monster, and I followed. I didn't see the hollow, but he could, and he was scared. We ran after the girl, but something made me stop. The wind was kicking up, and I was getting a really bad feeling that something scary was ahead. I shouted at Suri that we needed to go home, but he ran after the little girl. I tried to follow him, but the weather had quickly turned into a really bad blizzard. I hid in a log, and I remember crying because I was scared, and I hadn't found Suri yet. I don't know how much time passed, minutes or even hours, but eventually my dad found me and took me back to the main house, but Suri wasn't there."

"What happened?" Matsumoto asked in a strangled voice.

"The adults searched for him all night, but it wasn't until the next morning that we found his body." Ichigo said his hands clenching into fists against his head "He had frozen to death, buried in a drift of snow, all alone in the forest."

A solitary tear rolled down from the substitute soul reaper's face and dripped onto the table as Ichigo told his heart wrenching tale. Everyone sat, listening, unable to tear themselves away from yet another tragic story from their friend's past.

"But the odd thing was," the teen whispered in a hoarse voice "that when we found him, his hair had turned white. In fact we almost missed him because he blended in with the snow. If it wasn't for his coat, we might never have found him."

"His hair was white?" Kisuke asked, one eyebrow arched at the piece of information.

"Yeah" Ichigo murmured "when the doctors did the autopsy, they said that it is phenomenon known to happen that when a person goes through something really traumatizing, or frightening, their hair turns white."

Rangiku gazed at the young man in renewed wonder "So my captain is…"

"The spirit of my cousin," Ichigo finished for her "Suri Tanosei."

"But that doesn't make sense…" Renji stated crossing his arms as he pondered the connection "Why does Toshiro look so much younger than you now?"

"Well," Ichigo laughed "His dad _was_ pretty short, and Suri was smaller than me despite being a year older."

"Not to mention spirits age much differently in the soul society and around the seireitei than people age here in the realm of the living." Ishida contributed.

"Interesting." Kisuke murmured "I wonder if somehow Toshiro, or should I say Suri, has some unfinished business concerning how he died? The captain came to soul society with no memory of his past life, but he still retained the sign of his trauma through his hair. Can there be a connection to his memory and the mystery of how he died?"

"Where's the mystery?" Renji barked "Ichigo said, he froze to death in a snow storm."

"With the Grand Fisher waiting in the blizzard?" Rukia asked incredulously "No, Kisuke is right. Obviously Captain Hitsugaya did not die at the hands of a hollow because his spirit was still able to make it into the soul society. But it wouldn't make sense for the Grand fisher to leave him alone long enough to freeze to death and pass on, especially after going to such lengths to bait them both out into the storm. There is most definitely a mystery here."

Chad's question was simple "So what do we do next?"

"We go to Fukuoka" Kisuke said firmly, his confident gaze sweeping across his listeners "We take Captain Hitsugaya to the scene of the crime, and help him remember piece by piece the events leading up to his death. Not only will that solve our mystery, but it may also be the key to retrieving his lost memory."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Ichigo nodded "And it just so happens that I still have the key to my aunt and uncles house. They moved out shortly after Suri died, but wanted to leave their property with family. The house is still vacant, and should make a decent place for us to stay."

"Looks like we are all going to Fukuoka" Ishida said as he stood up with a groan.

Everyone nodded with agreement. It was a long shot, but there was a chance that they could help Toshiro get his memory back and that was all that mattered.

**Sorry for the uber short chapter! Hope you all enjoyed the story of Toshiro's past. Please REVIEW and let me know what you think of the story, and if anyone has any predictions for the future!**


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